At least I think I am addicted to computers. Even though I am on holiday and a cloudless blue sky with a sea of glass is calling for my attention I am sitting in a hotel lobby typing on a black plastic piece of technology. Rarely a day goes by when I do not turn on the computer to at least check on my email or the state of my blog. If I haven't been making comments well I am sure you understand. I shouldn't be here writing this. I should be out with my family splashing around in the crystal clear water. Any hoo, back to the subject. Computing is an addiction which seems to be a very sneaky one. It suck you in more and more until you think that you can't live without them. At least that is what it seemed to me. I still cannot break the habit as this article shows :) I am not saying that everybody is like this but I bet that most readers of these types of blogs can at least sympathise with those of us who wish we had liquid silicon running through our veins. I wonder what it is that makes computers so addictive? Is it the technology? It seems that we as a human race love our gadgetry. Take the rise of mp3 players and mobile phones as an example. Yet I don't think that it is entirely true. I don't own an mp3 player for example. In fact, apart from my computer I don't own much gadgetry at all. My mobile phone is nowhere near the latest model and I only bought it because I had to. Is it the entertainment value which makes computers so addictive? I personally find computers quite entertaining. My personal computer covers all of my entertainment bases from television to music. Some swear that the best games only come on computers and the rise of social networks has exploded in the last couple of years. Yet I don't think that it is either of those which make computers so addictive. In fact I don't think that it is the technology or entertainment factor at all. Although they do play no small part. I think the biggest reason for computers being so addictive is people. One of computers biggest triumphs, so to speak, is the ability of people all over the planet to connect with each other, in many different ways, in real or otherwise time. It is this ability which resulted the the massive uptake of the personal computer. In the sense of the personal computer being a part of houshold, not business, furniture. Sure, telephones have been around for a lot longer than computers but they are, for personal use, one to one real time communication devices. Not everyone is available at the same time and sometimes it is, er, awkward to have to answer the phone in some situations. Not that the telephone has been relegated to the back burner by computers. On the contrary, telephones are still very much of prime importance. For most, more so than computers. Computers have more ways of interacting with more people than any other device in history. With the aid of computers people have been able to make friends with complete strangers, who live half the world away and speak in different native languages with a completely different culture. The rise of email, chat rooms, voice over ip and video over ip have abolished communication barriers such as time zones, living habits and geographical location. One person in New York can just as easily speak, write or see another person in New York as they can another person in Sydney. At the same time. Several times it has been asked of me if I ever sleep. Of course I sleep. I love sleeping. I am a regular Koala when it comes to sleeping. Yet, through the magic of computers, people seem to forget such things as time zones and geographical differences. All that is important is the communications between one person and their many friends. Personally I think that this is a "good thing (tm)" as communication not only increases knowledge, it also widens the mind. People can think when they are comminicating with someone, hey, this person from a different country, language and culture is not that different from me. What do you think? Are computers addictive or is it the people you communicate with? Are computers bringing the world together in harmony? Are computers tearing down the tower of Babel? Or am I just an idealistic simpleton :)

Some name

I've always been fascinated with graphics and wrote my first drawing program on the venerable apple ][e. After discovering the x86 IBM clones and wrangling my way into the computer industry I'm now immersed in work as a Computer Engineer, System Administrator, OS builder (Linux from Scratch and Android) and general techno-head.

"and the most important computer addiction.. programming... I got hooked, because here was a machine, that would do EXACTLY what I told it to do... even if I told it something stupid...

The raw unmitigated power of that... was an amazing thing, in 1979, and has grown ever more powerful. Because now, not only can I program ""My"" computer.. .but I can talk to APIs across the internet, and make other computers jump through hoops for me, too...